


Family Loyalty

by Professor_Sh



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-24 20:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19731202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Professor_Sh/pseuds/Professor_Sh
Summary: Small Hershel Bronev doesn't want to be adopted, but surviving on your own is hard when you're like 7 years old.





	Family Loyalty

"I just don't understand. Couldn't you have just quit? He's an adult, he shouldn't pull you into all of this. Aren't you technically a criminal too now?"

"Well Master Luke, while I do sometimes think my Master is making the wrong decisions, my loyalty doesn't mean that I support his ways, it means I support him personally. If he gets in trouble, I help him out. That's about it. I make sure he stays save not because I have to but because I want and because I care about him."

Seeing as to how serious the butler seemed, Luke couldn't help but wonder.  
"B-but why are you so loyal to him?"

The atmosphere seemed less heavy by now which Raymond was quite happy about.  
He was unsure about whether or not he should tell the story since he has never before but figured that Luke deserved an explanation of some sort after everything. He -just like Des even if he didn't want to admit it- still considered the Layton crew as his friends. So he began,  
"Aye, you see..."

______________________

Hershel could feel the coldness of the winter slowly getting to him. With no one paying the bills, the house was left completely without heating. He had tried to make fires before but they'd always burn out in the matter of mere minutes. An exasperated sigh left the shivering young boy. Everything was a mess. He didn't have a real name, he didn't have a family, he didn't have anything but those sheer unlimited seeming amounts of books about Archeology and especially the Azran civilization.  
He had a few blankets and the furniture of course too. The kitchen was also still fully equipped. But learning how to cook was really none of his priorities even though he knew he'd have to at some point until then he had to steal. He had to go get water from a fountain in the town or the small brook in the forest nearby. All of that was exhausting and he just barely managed to make it to school from Monday to Friday.  
But he had to.  
He had to go to school.  
Not that anyone else would care but he had to.  
If he wanted to be able to study archeology, he had to be at least acceptable at the other subjects and finish school with good marks.  
But since he spent most of his time studying the Azran and trying to survive, the other subjects often came short.  
Not even his deep hate for the civilization could keep him warm now, so he hoped to just suffer through it and concentrate on other things that might just distract him enough from the freezing to make it bearable.

__________________________

"Raymond, I know I'm getting on your nerves dear, but please, I'm begging you, let's check the mansion!"

"Of course you're not annoying me, but don't you see that we might get into trouble if we were to be found snooping around in a house that doesn't belong to us?"

"I could swear I've seen the little Hershel in one of the windows just now! He must be freezing at these temperatures! And even if he's not there and we should get caught, you don't really think anyone would be mad at us if we told them our reasons, do you?"

Raymond knew he wouldn't be able to talk his wife out of it. She had always been such a smart, strong and caring person. Of course she wouldn't even consider letting go of that idea until she could be 100% sure that there wasn't still one of the boys living in the abandoned family estate.  
And he couldn't even be mad at her for that. So he gave in. 

"Oh alright. You know that I can't say no to you, dearest"

"Thank you! Let's go right now! Every passing second is a threat at the moment!" 

Her own words having provoked more worries within her, she didn't waste any more time and immediately after having spoken began running towards where she thought there was a little boy facing the cold of the season all on his own. 

Not all too surprised by her seemingly sudden outburst, her husband ran after her to the house on the hill. 

When they arrived at the front door, instead of knocking, Rosa called out for Hershel.  
Nothing happened. No answer whatsoever.  
As if there wasn't a young boy standing right behind the door, too afraid of what might happen to him if he opened it and confused about who those strangers even were in the first place. 

But Rosa wasn't ready to give up. She knew he had to be there somewhere. At first, like everyone else, she had assumed the house was left completely abandoned. But that was in the summer when there was no school, so little Hersh didn't have to go through the town. Now that it was winter, she saw him every morning trying his best not to be seen by anyone while sneeking to school. Everytime she tried to show her husband though, he had already vanished. 

"Hershel it's us! Rosa and Raymond! We met each other a while ago when your parents and you took a walk, don't you remember?" 

Granted, the chance of someone who was only seven years old remembering something for them so long ago -even if it was really just a year- was quite small but Rosa felt like she had to try. She could feel her heart pound in her chest as if it wanted to jump out and search for the child itself.  
Suddenly there was a gentle and comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Do you think I should open the door? Maybe he doesn't hear us through the walls."

A sigh came out of the young woman.  
That's right, she wasn't alone anymore. She had her freshly married husband by her side now.  
It would take a while getting used to that.

"Y-yes please. That would be grand. I want to be very sure before we leave."  
There was a noticeable change in her voice, which was almost painful to hear for Raymond. He could sense more fear. Fear that they might be too late. And it seemed like her enthusiasm had faded a bit.

_____________________

Inside the house the lonely boy was completely terrified when he heard shuffling outside and someone trying to open the door with force. Memories of that night came flooding back into his mind and without even realizing it he had ran into the closet in his parents' bedroom that was already pretty dusty from the lack of use and cleaning. The poor thing was shivering but for the first time in a few weeks it wasn't because of the lack of warmth. He was horrified of what was to come and even though he wasn't raised religious started praying that the intruder wouldn't find him or for that matter even be able to open the door. But the latter hope was shattered as soon as he heard the creak of the door and hushed voices. Now he cowered in on himself and tried to hide between and behind the clothes still left in there with him.

The footsteps were roaming around all of the house seemingly searching for something specific and every time they got even close to the bedroom, Hershel could feel his breath hitch and his shivering getting worse. He suddenly felt something tickling along his cheek and realized that it was a tear. This went on for what felt like hours to the small boy until he could hear the familiar creek of the bedroom door. He felt like suffocating and wanted to just disappear so badly, pressing himself as far into the closet wall as possible.  
Out of nowhere he could hear sobs. At first the sound confused him but when he realized they originated from him, Hersh was absolutely mortified. The steps were getting closer and closer and the anxious heart in his chest pounded so loud he could barely even hear anything else anymore. 

________________________

Raymond couldn't believe his eyes. There in front of him in that dark and dusty closet sat the little Hershel that was hardly recognizable from the last and first time they had met about a year ago.  
Rosa had been right all along, of course, the man thought about how admirable his wife truly was, not giving up even with all the doubt he had thrown at her.  
Seeing how absolutely frightened the child seemed though, he stopped his thoughts and kneeled down in front of him.

"Oi Hershel. Do you remember me?"  
He asked in the softest voice he was able to make. He saw Rosa in the hallway and waved her over carefully, not wanting to scare the boy even more.  
She walked over and knelt down next to her lover.  
In the meantime Hershel had nodded quickly.  
Raymond felt how the relief washed over him. At least he remembered them. That hopefully calmed him a bit.

A weak voice stuttered out, "Mister Grimes? Misses Grimes? Are that you two?"  
Raymond slowly held out a hand towards the slowly calming child.

"Aye, that's us. Don't worry we don't want to hurt you in any way. We're actually here because we were terribly worried about you." that earned him a small glare from Rosa who had been the one insisting to take a look around the house for weeks. "C'mon boy take my hand and we'll nurse you up to good health, alright? It's freezing in here why didn't you try and get help?"

Visibly relaxed but in a serious tone he replied, "I wanted to do this alone. I don't want anyone to adopt me."  
The offered hand was left untouched.

The couple looked at each other, confusion quite literally written in their faces.  
"Oh? Why is that dear?" Rosa inquired intrigued.

"It's- that's not important." clearly he didn't want to tell them. -just yet that is, as the woman thought, determined to gain his trust.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell us, but I'd still very much like you to come with us so we can at least cook something good for you. How's that sound?"

Just the image of finally getting some real food again was enough to make the boy's stomach grumble loudly.  
"I guess it wouldn't hurt."  
A small smile having replaced the terrified face from before he finally took the hand of the man.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it for the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it :)


End file.
